MONROE COUNTY, Tenn. ( WATE ) — Authorities in Tennessee are searching for a man they consider armed and dangerous after a body was found earlier this month.
The sheriff’s office in Monroe County, located in the state’s southeastern corner along the North Carolina border, said Friday that an arrest warrant has been issued for Nicholas Wayne Hamlett, 45, for first-degree murder as part of an ongoing investigation.
On October 18, a man who identified himself as Brandon Andrade called 911, claiming to be a distressed hiker. According to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, the man told the dispatcher he had fallen off a cliff while running from a bear and was injured and partially in the water.
‘All God’: North Carolina couple recounts surviving Helene by floating on couch
The phone the call was made from pinged in the area of the Charles Hall bridge on the Cherohala Skyway in Tellico Plains, about 60 miles southwest of Knoxville. Emergency services set up a command center in the area, and search and rescue teams from various agencies were called in…